What is NAP? NAP & SEO

NAP is an acronym for name, address and phone number. NAP for your business needs to be correct when optimizing your website for local search because Google values providing accurate information to its users.

How NAP affects SEO?

Having correct NAP for all your listings across the internet is crucial for local SEO. Google scans all these listings when searching for information about your business. The data is stored and used when determining ranking. Incorrect information in NAP citations can lead to confusion for customers, and therefore a poor user experience.

What problems can arise if incorrect listings are made?

Google values consistency in your listings. When all your listings say the same thing, Google can confidently display your contact information to customers on applicable queries. When the search engine finds discrepancies in the listings, then it is not sure of the information. Since incorrect information can lead to a poor user experience, regular differences between your listings can cause lower rankings.

A study was conducted by Wesley Young to see how much different factors impacted local search performance. He found that that consistency of the NAP could impact a site’s performance by as much as 16 percent.

How to create a strong NAP record for SEO?

Make sure this critical information is displayed prominently on your website so that it can be easily read by your customers and by Google. Make sure the information is text and not an image so that Google can scan the information.

Claim your Google+ Local/Google My Business listings and make sure to update them with the correct information.

Use Google to uncover potentially incorrect listings. You can use Google site operators, such as site:yelp.com “my business” to search specific directories or you can search for your phone number, address or business name.

Keep an account of all your listings so you can quickly correct this information if you ever change your business’ phone number or address.

NAP can have an enormous impact on businesses because it gives customers easy access to the most critical information about your brand. Take the time to make sure your listings are accurate to avoid potential problems in local SERPs.